ROM-DOS Posted January 2, 2006 CID Share Posted January 2, 2006 China declares war on Internet pornography 12/31/2005 3:33:16 PM, by Ryan Paul The Chinese government regularly censors Internet content in an effort to diminish the distribution of politically subversive material, but now the communist state is expanding its control and targetting Internet pornography web sites as well. According to a Chinese government official, 221 people have been arrested, and almost 600 web sites have been shut down since March in a crackdown on "obscene" Internet content. According to Zhao Shiqiang, the vice chief of the Ministry of Public Security's Internet Security and Supervision bureau, the government is in control, and winning the slow battle against information that government officials consider harmful: The spread of Web sites that involve pornography has been bought under effective control. Due to the specialized nature of Internet technology, there are still some places where pornography exists. Harmful information on overseas sites can still be transmitted internally, and a minority of people try to use the Web to carry out illegal activities. With more than 100 million Internet users, China has the second largest population of web content consumers after the United States. Although the Chinese government promotes web use for business, education, and government activity, the communist regime has committed its resources to crushing web sites that challenge government authority, or distribute content that the government considers to be detrimental to society. Like most other communist states, China and its government have very little respect for civil liberties and personal autonomy. Governments in Europe are disturbed by the destructive and tyrannical behavior of the Chinese government, and several representatives have spoken out against the censorship and other Chinese government policies. Earlier this month, an EU commissioner criticized Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google for facilitating oppressive Chinese government censorship, and cooperating with government investigations that have led to the incarceration of dissidents that yearn for freedom and democracy. The Chinese government established some new rules this year that place extraordinarily prohibitive limitations on blogging. The laws ban posts that "instigate illegal gatherings, formation of associations, marches, demonstrations, or disturb social order." The Chinese government also recently increased surveillance of mobile phone text messaging, a popular method of communication in China where 383 million individuals use mobile phones. According to Wu Heping, vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security, Chinese law enforcement agents have found 107,000 illegal text messages since the start of November, and have consequently pulled the plug on approximately 9,700 cell phone accounts. The police say that 44 percent of the illegal messages intercepted by police were attempts at banking fraud, but many of the other illegal messages were advertisements for prostitution and pornography services. Journalistic freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders claims that the government is also going after dissidents that use text messaging to organize demonstrations or distribute news censored by the government. Censorship of Internet pornography is rarely effective. To the dismay of free speech advocates across the country, United States law enforcement agencies began to attack web sites with "obscene" content earlier this year. Attorney General Gonazalez and FBI Director Meuller said that the anti-obscenity initiative was one of their "top priorities" for the year. Internet pornography is a massively profitable business, and regulating it will merely push it overseas, depriving the government of valuable tax revenue. Despite their government's efforts, the people of China are embracing progressive sexual practices and creating a society that is tolerant and permissive: The internet has really fuelled the sexual revolution in China. With more than 100 million internet users and sex education in its infancy, young people turn to the internet for everything from information about sex to pornography, which is illegal in China. In the absence of a pub culture, they also use it to meet partners. Some surveys claim 30 per cent of all one-night stands in China are arranged on the web. What does the Chinese government do to Internet pornographers? A 20-year-old in eastern China received a 15 year jail sentence for selling downloads of movies with pornographic content. There are some things that simply cannot be repressed. Despite the risk of incarceration, the Chinese people continue to produce and distribute pornographic content. Will the Chinese government continue to arrest hundreds of citizens every year for perpetrating victimless crimes? I doubt that censorship and oppression in China will end any time soon, and I can't help but wonder if it is an ominous illustration of what Americans can expect to see in the future as our own government continues to enforce unreasonable limitations on free speech with its war against obscenity. Copyright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted January 2, 2006 CID Share Posted January 2, 2006 i love testmy.net. edit: racist comments won't be tolerated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROM-DOS Posted January 2, 2006 Author CID Share Posted January 2, 2006 i love testmy.net Idlewis23 ~ it's not the Chinese people(it's their '60's revolution), it's the Chinese government! Many people may see China's stance on pornography to be a civil rights issue, and, certainly in the light of our own constitution, they may be right. However, it's not really the case. Censorship of pornography is a very different beast than the political censorship that people are used to talking about whenever China is mentioned. Political censorship is used by the government to maintain (political power)/(stability) (pick one). Censorship of pornography is due to the fact that Chinese culture has always been very very conservative. Pornographic censorship in China (as in most other places like the US) is more of a social phenomenon rather than overt government oppression. What sucks are American concerns like Yahoo, Google, MS, who help in apprehending Chinese dissidents under the guise of goodwill. Profiting by violating human rights that are illegal in their home countries should equate to charges against these companies. It's illegal for an American citizen to go overseas to engage in child pornography or child prostitution, even if it's outside US jurisdiction where the Phillipines or Thailand (or where ever) have lax security to crack down on this behavior. As soon as the perv comes home, his passport is revoked and a case is started against him. Colin Powell before he retired stated this exact stance. So why shouldn't a corporation fall under this same scrutiny? We can't stop China immediately. It'll be slow and culturally based, not a bloodbath revolution. What we *CAN* do in America is make Google and friends accountable. I don't care if China is a fast growing market for the Internet. It's wrong to turn a blind eye and have American companies commit completely un-American acts against other human beings. We can't stand by and say "Google helped send the stormtroopers to Mr. Lee's house, but it's all good 'cause Lee isn't a US citizen. f*** Mr. Lee and his family." It's ok for the China's bureaucrats to steal and sell their land, poison their country's resources, execute over 10k people a year, and force their secratarys to service them sexually as part of the job but heaven forbid someone should see some naked breasts on the internet. You can take a man's freedom, but you can't take his porn. I think this may be the last straw for the Chinese government! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlewis23 Posted January 2, 2006 CID Share Posted January 2, 2006 ROM-DOS i know its the chinese goverment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROM-DOS Posted January 2, 2006 Author CID Share Posted January 2, 2006 ROM-DOS i know its the chinese goverment. dlewis23 ~ it's not the Chinese government! . . .it's Yahoo, Google and Microsoft! [j/k ~ I just needed a reason to post] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
resopalrabotnick Posted January 2, 2006 CID Share Posted January 2, 2006 well, while we are sitting here railing against the chinese for banning porn and arresting those that break that law (which seems perfectly fair, they knew that they were doing something illegal in their part of the world and you can't argue that porn is essential to the human soul etc) maybe we can remember one of the capitalist countries that has a strange double standard in its rules of conduct for tv and radio. they allow violence pretty much unfiltered while every single swearword is blanked out and every appearance onscreen of such evil things as t and a causes a public outcry. that's right kids, i'm talking about the fcc in the good old us of a. now, it's not that i have something against filtering of material that is possibly harmful to kids. what bothers me is that they filter anything remotely sexual, while the monster can rip the extras head off in slowmotion with no worries. /IF/ you're gonna create censorship, at least be consistent, or leave it out altogether because if only half of the shit on tv and radio is censored then i don't need anything censored. (not that i'm for censorship, but some of the things shown really aren't for kids) (and the adults can rent or watch hbo and the like) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
compuworm Posted January 2, 2006 CID Share Posted January 2, 2006 ROM-DOS, I am not sure where your going with this post. What about what is happening right here in the good-old-USA. What about Warrentless wire taps, our President's administration leaking under cover CIA operative names, unprecedented cooporate corruption (do you know how many ppl lost their life savings, and retirement funds affect Mr.ROM-DOS?), going to war based on lies (how many good and brave Americans continue to died for that lie ROM-DOS?), the President appointing political connected friends into positions they simply have no qualifications for (Micheal Brown EX-FEMA director, how many ppl ROM-DOM died and continue to suffer for that mess?), how about Haliburton winning no bit contracts for reconstruction in Iraq (I am sure it had absolutely nothing to due with vise President being an ex-CEO of Haliburton), American company's running the tax shelters overseas so as not to have to pay taxes, and so on and so on. Long story short Mr.ROM-DOS, how can we even begin to tell another nation how to get their house in order when ours is in such a shameful state? Having said all that, I do agree in essence with your statements but lets make America great again first. Lets make a stand here and make our Government and Cooporations tow the line for their lies and greed. Only then will thing get better for all. compuworm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROM-DOS Posted January 3, 2006 Author CID Share Posted January 3, 2006 ROM-DOS, I am not sure where your going with this post. What about what is happening right here in the good-old-USA. [well, I'm not going to China, soon. . .I agree, there is something happening right here in the good-old-USA ~ and it's all good, but a little old] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blunted 2 Posted January 3, 2006 CID Share Posted January 3, 2006 doesn't china not care about pollution also? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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